Anyone know much about this solar mat? Seems very cheap and high wattage-gctid394488

[Guest]

http://www.amazon.com/Unisolar-Flexible-Solar-Panel-Laminate/dp/B006EP6MCU/ref=pd_sim_sbs_lg_1

[Guest]

looks to me that they sell off what they have as the company is in chapter 11. They couldn't find a reasonable buyer and have laid off 300 employees. Not a good sign for any warranty claims you might have. Most likely they will quietly close shop soon.

[Guest]

It's 24 volts, so you'll need a converter. It also doesn't show dimensions, and for that much power, I'm betting the thing is HUGE. There's no magic in solar panels; square footage = watts. Some types are more effective than others, but not by a huge amount.

[Guest]

List Of Failed Green Energy Jobs

• Solar Trust of America: FAIL
• Bright Source: FAIL
• Solyndra: FAIL
• LSP Energy: FAIL
• Energy Conversion Devices: FAIL
• Abound Solar: FAIL
• SunPower: FAIL
• Beacon Power: FAIL
• Ecotality: FAIL
• A123 Solar: FAIL
• UniSolar: FAIL
• Azure Dynamics: FAIL
• Evergreen Solar: FAIL
• Ener1: FAIL

You paid for these solar panels already, you might as well take delivery if they are cheap.

FWIW: you can guess the panel size by looking at a similar product from them with 1/2 the wattage: http://www.amazon.com/Uni-Solar-PVL-...ef=pd_sbs_lg_2

just multiply by 2 ??

[Guest]

Specs: http://soldonsun.com/files/UNI-PVL128.pdf

This is basically what you need to know:

NOCT

(Nominal Operating Cell Temperature)

(800 W/m2, AM 1.5, 1 m/sec. wind)

Maximum Power (Pmax): 100 W

Voltage at Pmax (Vmp): 30.8 V

Current at Pmax (lmp): 3.24 A

Short-circuit Current (Isc): 3.9 A

Open-circuit Voltage (Voc): 43.5 V

This would be cool if you operated your house batts in series, and regulated this to about 28VDC. Sadly, there is nothing in a boat that will take 28VDC. If you regulate it down to 14.2, it'll put out close to the same current, but about half of the overall power.

[Guest]

this guy is supposedly running a trolling motor off it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVJI0YC1Yes

[Guest]

As long as it's small enough, no reason it wouldn't work. 746 watts is 1 hp, easy math.

[Guest]

docmirror wrote:
This would be cool if you operated your house batts in series, and regulated this to about 28VDC. Sadly, there is nothing in a boat that will take 28VDC. If you regulate it down to 14.2, it'll put out close to the same current, but about half of the overall power.

not true... if you use a switchmode converter you get 85+% efficiency or almost twice the current at half the voltage

[Guest]

kjs wrote:
not true... if you use a switchmode converter you get 85+% efficiency or almost twice the current at half the voltage

Yes true. You're not really putting out 28VDC anymore if you use a converter, RIGHT? I repeat, nothing on the boat will run at 28VDC.

[Guest]

Two different things. One of you is saying "regulator" which indeed would reduce effective power by around half, and the other is saying "converter" which is fairly efficient.

In any case, by the time you rig this up to be usable, you've spent more time and money.

[SomeSailor]

You could buy an inexpensive small grid tie inverter for your AC loads while on the hook. Or split the array into two 12V pads.

[Guest]

SwampNut wrote:
Two different things. One of you is saying "regulator" which indeed would reduce effective power by around half, and the other is saying "converter" which is fairly efficient.

In any case, by the time you rig this up to be usable, you've spent more time and money.

Unfortunately a lot of solar places call the stuff "regulators" but in reality most of them are switchmode converters. This is why I said they can have efficiency. I have one at home with measured and spec'd 95%+ efficiency at full load and if you use one of these the maximum output current is almost twice of the 28V max current capability of the panel. Even if you get a 12V panel it's usually a good idea to have one of these "regulators" to not kill the batteries. Only small 1-5W panels are safe to directly connect them to batteries and I already question it for the 5W's.

PugetMike wrote:
List Of Failed Green Energy Jobs

• Solar Trust of America: [COLOR]#FF0000 wrote:
  FAIL[/COLOR]
• Bright Source: [COLOR]#FF0000 wrote:
  FAIL[/COLOR]
• Solyndra: [COLOR]#FF0000 wrote:
  FAIL[/COLOR]
• LSP Energy: [COLOR]#FF0000 wrote:
  FAIL[/COLOR]
• Energy Conversion Devices: [COLOR]#FF0000 wrote:
  FAIL[/COLOR]
• Abound Solar: [COLOR]#FF0000 wrote:
  FAIL[/COLOR]
• SunPower: [COLOR]#FF0000 wrote:
  FAIL[/COLOR]
• Beacon Power: [COLOR]#FF0000 wrote:
  FAIL[/COLOR]
• Ecotality: [COLOR]#FF0000 wrote:
  FAIL[/COLOR]
• A123 Solar: [COLOR]#FF0000 wrote:
  FAIL[/COLOR]
• UniSolar: [COLOR]#FF0000 wrote:
  FAIL[/COLOR]
• Azure Dynamics: [COLOR]#FF0000 wrote:
  FAIL[/COLOR]
• Evergreen Solar: [COLOR]#FF0000 wrote:
  FAIL[/COLOR]
• Ener1: [COLOR]#FF0000 wrote:
  FAIL[/COLOR]

and those who eventually survive do so despite the VC's funding them.............

[Guest]

As mentioned this is a 24 volt solar panel. You need to add a charge controller to the system. Check eBay for solar panel charge controller to see what is available. Some of them are 12 volt 24 volt auto switching which means that it will sense the battery voltage and regulate the output automatically. There are basically two types. The PWM controllers are the cheapest and the MPPT are more efficient in that they will operate at higher voltage curves. You will also need to get a controller that will handle the amperage that the panel will put out. In this case, a 10 amp controller should do the trick. If you go this route, you will probably need to order either the MC3 or MC4 connectors depending on which style the panel uses.